Flooding In Mississippi In 1992: A Case Study

Repeated events, highlighted by the flood of 1993 and the fallout of Katrina, continues to illustrate the US Army Corps of Engineers’ failure in strengthening flood control up and down the Mississippi, including the redesign and upgrading levees. America is a product of this constant struggle in dominating nature using science and reason.

Flooding of the settlement was problematic. By 1812, the settlers had built miles of levees on the banks of the river. For the next two hundred years, the surrounding wetlands were drained to eliminate swamps filled with yellow fever carrying mosquitoes and to encourage economic development. Draining water from peaty soils encouraged subsidence. The land which was just inches above sea level to begin with steadily sank. In combat of this, higher and stronger levees were built, tightening the straight jacket already placed upon the Mississippi River. The massive flooding of 1928 brought further flood control systems implemented by the Army Corps of Engineers with Congressional blessing. By the 1950’s, dramatic rates of land loss in Louisiana’s coastal zone stretched across 300 miles from Texas to Mississippi and inland 50 miles. (Tibbetts)

When a huge storm caused the Missouri River to overflow in 1993, its water swept through Hardin. Water swept through Hardin,destroying homes and other buildings. Then something terrible happened that the town would never be the same: the dead rose up from the cemetery. It destroyed homes and buildings, and unearthing nearly 600 coffins from the local cemetery. As storm after storm pummeled the Midwestern United States, rivers began to overflow their banks. Throughout the summer, floodwater destroyed homes and businesses, and roads and bridges were washed away. The flooding didn’t and unit fall, and by then, more 20 million acres of land. Fifty people had died, and 55,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Flooding is one of the many risks that people and their private properties assume when they consider living in a specific geographic location. This is true for the residents of Howard County, as they live near the Chesapeake Bay, whose tributaries branch off into smaller rivers, streams and lakes. Due to the fact that Howard County is more developed in the southeast and more rural in the west, there is a correlation between the risk of flooding and the presence of human development. (any cite here?) Natural factors play an integral role in determining the probability of flooding in a particular section of the county as well. People and their private properties are highly impacted by flooding, as it can cause death and injuries to humans

History will affirm that from the beginning of the settlement of New Orleans in 1717, it was then and continues to be a location destined to periodic flooding caused by the Mississippi river and rising storms. Throughout time, New Orleans would challenge nature by primarily fortifying the river’s natural levees to periodically engineering levees to combat issues of flooding, only to return to reinforcing or rebuilding according to damages inflicted as time progressed. Each attempt to fight nature from overwhelming New Orleans kept setting engineers back. Refusal to abandon the coastal areas became more costly over time; the intent to preserve the coast became more valuable than the value of life and property.

Floods are common natural disasters that occur all over the world. Flooding has devastating impacts on the lives of people who are affected by the disaster. Floods can ruin crops, demolish homes, take innocent lives and cause many other types of hardships. These disasters can also leave people with a financial burden and emotional effects. Studies have shown that floods have led to various sickness and health complications. This common disaster has recently taken place in the state of Louisiana. Louisiana has been suffering from an enormous flood and has left people without homes, without food, and without personal belongings.

I was talking with a co-worker this evening about my assignments for the week in my online classes. When I told her we were studying the intermontane west; she told me about a place in eastern Washington State called the scablands. I had never heard the term before, so naturally I was intrigued. Luckily for me the topic was covered in our book when discussing the Great Missoula Flood. The Great Missoula Flood was caused over a period of time during the last ice age when a massive dam buckled under the weight of the water that melted from the polar ice caps (Hardwick, Shelley & Holtgrieve.) The scablands are only a portion of the total area that is encompassed in the area affected by the Great Missoula Flood. According to HugeFloods.com “The

As we’re trying to move from relief to recovery and rebuilding, it’s nearly imperative that we look back to unveil why this widespread flooding occurred in the first place. If we trace back to the research of engineers in the 1990’s, it was recorded that the reservoir system was inadequate and endangered thousands of lives and properties (Thompson). Arthur Storey, Harris County’s Flood Director in 1996, coins the wreckage that lies before us as “a massive governmental and engineering failure” (Thompson). Research suggests that we foresaw the potential damage, yet failed to invest in modern development

In August of 2005, a great blow was dealt to our country by the disastrous Hurricane Katrina. Where humans thought they could control the awesome power of such a natural disaster through the use of levees, they were wrong. Many of the failures were due to problems with the soil on which the levees were built. In the chapter, we read over many types of changes the planet goes through, and it seems that those key point were not very strongly considered when constructing the levees. Not only was the underlying soil an issue, but different elevation levels from around New Orleans also contributed to the failures.

This paper is on the South Carolina Flood which caused many problems, residents had to leave their homes, the flood left 17 dead, 2 of which were from North Carolina. The flood wiped out many homes and the majority of the roads leading out of South Carolina. Andy Shaine quotes “At the moment we have 411 roads closed in South Carolina, 129 have been washed out,”. All of this destruction was caused from a broken dam, which workers are working around the clock to fix.

During the Autumn/Winter of 2013/14, an unusually high frequency of depressions moved across the Somerset Levels, causing both fluvial and pluvial flooding on a prodigious scale. The two main rivers which flow through the Levels (River Tone/Parrett), burst their banks, spilling into the already heavily saturated flood plain. An emergency was declared and subsequently allowed the Somerset council to request financial and physical aid to the region. This essay highlights the key reasons the Somerset Levels flooded, as well evaluating the main management solutions that were put forward during the peak of the flooding.

Additional factors that can contribute to flooding include: storms, global warming, the capacity, amount, length and spread of rain over a particular area, the size of waterway to hold excess water, the catchment and climate conditions preceding rainfall, ground cover, topography and tidal impacts.

On August 12th, 2016, the southern part of Louisiana was flooded do to massive rain fall. I feel this is a big topic that should be talked about because of the eye opening things that have happened such as damage and the record breaking water levels recorded. This stuff really should be talked about but isn’t.

This spring, record breaking floodwaters along the Mississippi River caused massive damage in nine states, totaling over $25 billion dollars in damage (Watts, 2011). In most areas the floodwaters have receded, however there is concern that even a little rain could cause more flooding due to the already saturated land. As cities and towns are beginning the restoration process, one thing caused by the flooding waters cannot be restored. Pollutants’ such as nitrogen from fertilizer, due to this area being primarily composed of farming land, is making its way toward the Gulf of Mexico. Every year pollutants traveling in the Mississippi River enter the Gulf and contribute to the Coastal Dead Zone; however, this year the Dead Zone in the Gulf

This paper is about comparing flood policies in the United States and the Netherlands. How both countries are taking different approaches to a similar situation that both faces. Especially with the rising waters from global warming. This paper looks at what is causing these two different approaches. Is something domestic going on in the United States and the Netherlands that is leading to this result such as economics or public opinion? The research in this paper is intended to help solve this important question. Background history will be provided with what led to the United States and the Netherlands to begin looking at creating flood policies. By the end of the paper, the research shall provide us with enough facts on why the United